


Strong Enough

by threewalls



Series: Puppy Love Cafe [3]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Community: hc_bingo, Community: kink_bingo, Established Relationship, Flogging, Insomnia, M/M, Painplay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-28
Updated: 2013-12-28
Packaged: 2018-01-06 11:34:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1106334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/threewalls/pseuds/threewalls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lu Han asks Minseok to help him sleep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strong Enough

**Author's Note:**

> With thanks to BP & Mec.
> 
> Bingos: "insomnia" (wild card) for h/c bingo and "pain" for kink bingo.

"I can't sleep," Lu Han says. 

Minseok rolls over onto his side, one hand beneath his head and his other elbow touching the wall. He leaves room for Lu Han to stretch out, but from the way the mattress moves, Lu Han has only sat down on the edge of his bed.

"Do I want to know what time it is?" Minseok asks. 

"It's only two," Lu Han answers, which explains why Minseok feels like he's barely slept. They made it to bed a little after one. "Maybe two-thirty. I couldn't sleep, so I checked on the guys. I checked downstairs. He hasn't come back yet. I checked my phone, and yours. No messages."

Jongin has family in Seoul: parents, married sisters. Lu Han likes all the guys to check in if they're spending the night somewhere else, doesn't need to know where, but Jongin is the only one who never yet failed to do that.

Minseok's eyes are starting to adjust to the light seeping in through cracks in the blinds. Lu Han is sitting with shoulders hunched, rocking on the edge of Minseok's bed. 

"Have you rung Joonmyun?" 

Earlier, Lu Han had explained his changes to the rota with great pleasure, that he'd set Jongin on what he called the "Joonmyun problem." But after the last customer left, after the café was clean and tidy, ready for the next day - and Jongin was still missing - Lu Han had insisted on sitting up with the next month's rota while Minseok worked over the budget.

"I sent a text," Lu Han says. "If he's sleeping, he needs the sleep."

"He has that big couch. He's probably sleeping on it, too. He'd make Jongin take the bed."

Minseok meant that as a joke, but Lu Han's answering laugh is brittle. He scrubs his hands over his face and sits up. He definitely needs to be more awake for this.

"Joonmyun is--"

"Joonmyun is Joonmyun. I've known him longer than I've known you. He's got the credit limit to keep Jongin but I think they're both too spooked by how much Jongin likes being his puppy to go 24-7." 

"But?"

"But Jongin keeps saying he needs more money and we've already had one puppy leave because shacking up with a nice older woman pays better than café staff."

Oh, Minseok realises. This isn't about Jongin and Joonmyun. This is about Baekhyun.

This is about Lu Han finding out about Baekhyun branching out into the escort business and trying to encourage their other employees to follow him. It's about Jongin looking for a second job and having Baekhyun's phone number. 

This is about Joonmyun being the last in a line of housemates who covered Lu Han's share of the rent, and the first that Lu Han didn't pay back with sex.

Between firing Baekhyun and finding Jongdae, Joonmyun's crisis of conscience and Jongin asking for as much overtime as possible, Minseok has been expecting Lu Han to eventually snap, however many espressos he downed first. He'd just expected, Lu Han being Lu Han, to be pounced upon when that happened.

"I can't sleep, Minseok. I've tried. I can't stop _thinking_. Can you..." 

Minseok reaches for his bedside lamp. This suddenly doesn't seem like a conversation to have in the dark.

Lu Han's worrying some sort of computer cord in his hands: several meters of it, wound up into loops a little wider than Lu Han's hands. 

"It's one of the PS3 charging cords," Lu Han says, holding it out for Minseok to take. "Can you hurt me?"

"Until you'll stop thinking?"

Lu Han must know that's a yes, because he smiles. "I honestly don't know how much that'll take." 

"Lucky this isn't the first time I've flogged you with one of these," Minseok says, holding up the cord. Not like this, but Lu Han's never come to him needing to be hurt quite like this. "Do you want your shorts down or off?"

"Down. My head's not good for--" Lu Han shrugs, "I just want to stop thinking."

Minseok prefers spanking Lu Han over his bent knee, but this isn't foreplay. This is winding up the cord around his hand so that he's got one long loop and the rest out of the way. This is Lu Han laid out in the warm glow of Minseok's bedside lamp, his shorts down around his knees and his T-shirt shucked up under his arms, lying face down with a pillow under his hips.

Computer cord is harsh, but quieter than Minseok's hand or a belt. Lu Han's body rocks with every strike, flexing feet, settling and re-settling his arms. Minseok smiles when Lu Han crosses his hands behind his head, Lu Han's fingers wrapping around the back of his own neck.

Minseok's arm finds a steady, familiar rhythm in the twitch and rise of Lu Han's hips to follow the impact. The first pink loops give way to an even colour and the pale lines of welts. 

When Lu Han lets go of his neck, his hands resting flat on the sheet beside his head, Minseok says, "three more," and gives him the three hardest yet.

Minseok coils up the charging cord, leaving it on his bedside table. 

Lu Han is watching him, dry eyes and crooked smile. He's pulled the pillow up to beside his head, and pets the covers beside him. 

Minseok sits along the side of the bed, and Lu Han tackles his left leg. He thinks he could sleep like this, the wall behind his back and Lu Han's hair through his fingers. It's dark brown at the moment. Minseok reaches for the light.

"Don't let me fall asleep here," Lu Han mumbles, rubbing his face into Minseok's thigh. "My bed."

**Author's Note:**

> You can also comment/subscribe at [my LJ](http://threewalls.livejournal.com/373694.html) or [my DW](http://threewalls.dreamwidth.org/251760.html).


End file.
